Ten minutes of additional instruction a day will be given in the Highland School District.

The Highland School Board voted at the recent meeting to change the end of school time from 3:05 to 3:15 p.m. Superintendent Dr. Mike Jorgensen says this will make a significant difference in the amount of reading and math instruction given at the elementary school, “And even 10 minutes a day four days a week adds up to well over 24 hours of additional instruction over the course of the school year. That also will kind of help give us additional time on our 1,080 hours we’re required to put in by the state. So the board felt like this was a good decision, good move and certainly helps, we think, in terms of the amount of instruction we’re going to be able to do.”

Jorgensen says with the current day length they’re looking at around 1,090 hours of instruction this year, which is adequate, but with the increased time it will put the district at well over
1,100 hours, which he says the board believes is a good thing. This decision will not affect Wednesdays when students are dismissed at 2 p.m.